Everything has Changed
by Ahoy-Cinderella
Summary: ONE-SHOT / Elliot and Olivia come face to face for the first time in four years.


_All I know is a new found grace_  
_All my days I'll know your face_  
_All I know since yesterday is everything has changed_

.

"Hello…" Olivia sighed quickly into the phone, racing around her living room trying to clean up as much as possible before getting distracted.

"Hello?" She said again, getting angry when no one replied the first time.

"Hey Liv…"

Olivia stood up straight, her eyes wide and panicked. "Elliot?"

"Yeah, it's me"

She sat down on the edge of the thick wooden coffee table in the middle of her spacious living room and ran a ragged hand through her now long dark hair. What the hell did he want?

It had been almost four years since she had heard from her ex-partner of twelve years Elliot Stabler. The first few months had been tedious. She would look over at the desk opposite hers expecting to see him sitting there, complaining as usual about having to deal with more paperwork than perps. She had tried to contact him after he left, he hadn't even had the decency to tell her he was handing his papers in, she had to hear it from their captain.

"What do you want, El?"

"I just wanted to catch up; I need to explain myself…"

"Four years later?" Olivia interrupted

"I know. I know it's been a long time just….please Liv, hear me out? Can you meet me? Or are you on call this weekend?"

Olivia sighed, no, she wasn't on call but in this very moment part of her really wished she was. "No, I'm not…give me an hour?"

"Sure, usual place?"

"Yeah…"

She hung up the phone and sighed, her heart beating a little faster in her chest at the prospect of seeing him again, it had been so long without an explanation for his not speaking to her, did she really want one now? After all these years?

.

Elliot sat in the booth of the little corner diner, a place he and Liv regularly visited during their time working together. He watched out the window hoping to see her but he couldn't, he watched cars driving past, people rushing along the streets trying to get to or from some place as fast as possible. He gazed around the crowded little diner, listening to the faint chatter of the occupants, the waitresses yelling orders and then he saw her.

His heart skipped a beat as he watched her enter the building; her hair was a lot longer, reaching past her shoulder now, almost to the middle of her back, her figure was a little fuller around her hips and chest, not that he had a problem with that. He caught her eye and she gave him a slight smile brushing her hair over one shoulder.

"Hey Liv…"

"Hi" She smiled and removed her jacket showing a flowing black top underneath.

Elliot signalled for a waitress and ordered himself a coffee, throwing a confused glance at Olivia when she ordered a green tea

"I thought you went back to coffee?" Remembering the time she returned from Oregon and had decided to stop drinking coffee and soda

"I did, I'm not drinking it just now though"

The pair sat in silence for a good ten minutes, the waitress came and left again and they continued to stare out the window or around the facility, neither wanting to make eye contact with each other.

"So how are you Liv?"

"Good, really good" She smiled "You?"

"Yeah, good"

Silence overcame them both again "Elliot I've been here almost twenty minutes and you've barely said a word…you were the one who wanted to talk"

"I know, it's just…you've changed, a lot" He looked her up and down, she still looked the same, yet completely different at the same time, it amazed him how he could go from knowing everything about the woman in front of him to knowing absolutely nothing at all.

"A lot's happened in four years, El"

.

"I couldn't handle coming back…" He started after another ten minutes of silence "IAB went through my jacket, said I had to go to counselling and anger management and all of that, you know the drill…"

Olivia nodded and took a sip of her tea

"I couldn't face it. It wasn't even that that bothered me, I shot a kid Liv" Elliot dropped his gaze to the table, his fingers padding along the plastic covered wood

"I just couldn't put my gun and badge on again knowing that I'd killed that girl, Elizabeth was her age at the time, I just couldn't…it's taken a long time but I'm finally at peace with it"

"El, I understand all of that, I do. But you didn't even speak to me, not even a text to say you were okay. I called and left message after message and it was like you didn't even care. After twelve years El, I get that you hated yourself but it was still a shitty thing to do, to ignore us all"

"I know and I'm sorry, I really am Liv" He admitted "I just couldn't talk to you, I felt like I'd let you down"

"You didn't"

"I know that now"

The silence fell over the table once more, both unsure of what to say. Twelve years of friendship, of being able to tell each other anything and everything and now they couldn't even make small talk.

"I should go…" Olivia quickly checked her watch, noticing the time.

"No, don't…" Elliot reached for her hand across the table "Stay a little longer"

"And talk about what?" She asked, sitting herself back down

"I don't know…anything's better than going back to your empty apartment right?"

Olivia glared at him loving how he assumed after four years everything would still be the same, she would still be the same. Her entire world changed since the day he left, changed for the better, she had never been happier in her life than she was right now.

"I don't live there anymore, El"

She reached for her jacket once more and pulled out her cell phone, flicking through the pictures she grinned and handed it over to him.

"He's cute…" Elliot smiled at her, glancing back down at the photo

"Thank you" Olivia grinned proudly

"He's yours?" He asked, wide eyed, turning the phone back to her before looking down again

"He is…"

"What's his name?" Elliot asked, staring at the photo of the baby boy on the screen of her phone, flicking through a few photos.

"Theo"

"Good name" He stared at the photos, the baby boy in a blue and green striped sleeper with his mother's big dark chocolate eyes and a head of dark hair. "How old is he?"

"He'll be three months next Friday" Olivia smiled, beaming with pride at her perfect little boy.

Elliot stopped on a photo that made his heart skip a beat. Olivia, make-up-less, in an oversized t-shirt, her hair up in a messy ponytail beaming at the camera holding her little boy, her son cradled against her chest, her t-shirt bunched in his tiny hands. She had never looked more beautiful, her smile conveying pure happiness.

"That's a great photo…" He turned to show Olivia who blushed

"I look like a zombie" She laughed; he hadn't heard her beautiful, throaty laugh for so long, it was a sound he definitely missed.

"No sleep will do that to you" He joked

Skipping through the photos, smiling at a few of Fin and Munch awkwardly holding the new-born Theo, he stopped when he recognised a face he hadn't seen in over a decade

"Is that Cassidy?" He asked

"Sure is" Olivia beamed

"Must have been weird to see him again, what did he come back for a case or something?" Elliot kept skimming through the pictures, unprepared for the words that flew from her mouth

"I married him, Elliot"

His eyes shot up to meet hers; full of confusion he opened his mouth to question her but couldn't find the words. She reached for her phone which he gladly handed back.

"You and Cassidy? Brian Cassidy?"

"Yep, three years ago" She grinned flashing her wedding ring at him

"Wow" His heart fell to the floor and his mouth went dry "Congratulations"

"Thanks"

"Everything really has changed…" he chuckled, trying to break the tension

"It has. I'm mad at you for leaving me like that El, without a word, but part of me is glad you did" Olivia admitted "I've never been happier in my life than I am right now. I have the best husband, I know what you're thinking, how can Brian Cassidy possibly be a decent husband but he is, he's the greatest guy I've ever known. I have the most perfect son, I'm so in-love you have no idea" She beamed with pride "Everything has changed Elliot, I've changed so much in these last four years, I never thought my life would end up like this"

"I'm happy for you" Elliot smiled "You've finally got everything you ever wanted"

"I have" She nodded

"Congratulations Olivia"

"Thank you"

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes before Olivia reached for her jacket "I really should go now"

"Yeah" Elliot stood and helped her out the booth

She mumbled quick thanks and shrugged her jacket on before they made their way out of the busy diner.

Elliot reached for her, pulling her into a close hug "See you around yeah? I wanna meet that kid of yours at some point"

"Sure, just be warned, you'll fall in love with him, everybody does" She laughed as they parted ways with a wave

"See you around"

.

* * *

_any thoughts? let me know!_

_lyrics: everything has changed - taylor swift ft. ed sheeran_

_twitter: ahoycinderella_


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